The Legend of the Steel Talons
by Itanu
Summary: Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg fanfiction- after the events of the game, new trouble is stirring up... this time, in the human world! But what's wrong with Billy all of the sudden? And why does Rolly care about him even more than Chick and Bantam do?
1. What's Wrong with Billy

Hello there, everybody! Sorry it took so long, but I've finally come back with a new story! This is on one of my favorite universes, the universe of Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg.

This story will probably have some hints of Billy/Rolly in it. I'll try not to make those parts too mushy, though, all right? Now, here we go!

* * *

Unspecified Forest, 6:00 am

"Billy," called Samantha Hatcher as she stood at the base of the staircase.

There was no response.

"Billy!"

No response.

Now she was a little bit agitated. She hated when she had to play the hard way, but...

"Billy Sunnyside Hatcher! You get down here before I come up there with a bucket of water! I will do it!"

"I'm coming, sis," sounded a lazy voice from up above. Samantha smiled. That little trick always worked on her brother.

In a few seconds following, during which there was the sound of two clip-clopping objects on wood, Samantha noticed two blue, leather-decorated feet coming in view from the ceiling. Then she noticed the shin, then the knees, then waist, torso, arms, and finally, the blonde head of her little brother.

Samantha put a smile on her face as she saw her little brother come down the flight of steps in his light-purple pajamas.

"Good morning, Billy!" greeted the brown-haired teenage girl.

"Hi," sounded Billy emotionlessly.

"Is that all you have to greet me with?" rhetorically asked the brunette, obviously throwing in some jest disappointment.

Billy shrugged, proceeding to walk toward the kitchen table and plop himself into one of the small, tumbleweed-colored chairs.

Samantha sighed hopelessly. Why did Billy have to be so silent? Ever since he had been found after that month of having disappeared, as had his companions, he had been quiet. Once upon a time, he had always awoken early, strapped on his clothing, came downstairs, ushered a huge "Good Morning" and a hug to his sister, and ran out to play with his friends before school started, usually grabbing a small hard-boiled egg to eat on the way.

Now, the routine was that Billy would get up when his sister finally got him up, come downstairs slowly without ushering a greeting unless he himself was greeted (sometimes, he didn't even return his sister's good wishes), then just stare into oblivion for about twenty minutes. After that, he would go upstairs, change into his day clothes, and come back down, grab his handbag, and leave without even grabbing something to eat.

And Samantha had been worried. The young, confident boy whom she had come to call her brother had become antisocial and reserved. And every day, Samantha wondered and guessed to herself things that could be wrong with Billy.

Well, frankly, Samantha had just about had enough of this nonsense. Today, she would find out what was wrong with him.

"So," Samantha started as she began to get back to her original task of hand-washing the dishes, "nice morning, huh?"

Billy broke his miserable trance to look at the window outside, five meters away from the table he was sitting at. Beams of light shone on through the window, creating a sort of halo-like scene.

It was something Billy had brought about to the different islands of Morning Land several times. It was nothing he wasn't used to.

Shrugging, Billy just turned his attention back to the table.

"The sun looks fine," Billy sighed sadly.

Samantha could hardly stand this anymore. She couldn't just let her brother stay in misery like this. But to demand it out of him would be over the line, as well. No telling how he would react to a demanding tower of fury. If anything, that would only make him more tight-lipped. Or worse, he could just lie and leave her not knowing what it truly was.

"You know," Samantha started, trying to put on a weak smile as she took a seat across from Billy, "Rolly, Bantam, and Chick came by earlier this morning."

"Oh, yeah? What did they come here for?" asked Billy.

"They wanted to see how you were doing, Billy. Everyone's been worried sick about you, especially your friends."

Billy looked down at the table. It was, indeed, very true. Everyone he knew- his teachers, his family, his friends especially, had been constantly wondering what bothered Billy so much and, henceforth, checking up on him almost daily.

"So, what did you do or say for them?" Billy posed as a question. He threw in the "do" because he knew that his sister couldn't resist providing for guests.

"I provided them some breakfast, and Chick, Bantam, and I started to have a nice conversation. Rolly's the one who brought back up the subject of how you've been feeling lately. I swear, if there's any one of your friends who obssesses over how you feel, it's got to be that girlfriend of yours."

Billy's head perked up. "She is not my girlfriend!" Billy said, a light beat between "not" and "my".

"Oh, _sure_ she isn't!" Samantha mused sarcastically.

"She's not!" denied Billy, his cheeks now a tinge of pink.

Samantha started to sing, "Billy and Rolly, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G. First comes love, then comes-"

"Stop it!" Billy finally shouted. "Anyway," Billy started up again as he watched his sister's full-fledged smile weaken, "what did you say to them?"

Samantha shook her head, her smile finally fading, "I told them I truly don't know, Billy. I truly don't know."

Billy pulled out his father's chicken-themed pocket watch. 6:05 am, it read. It was time for him to get his clothes on and leave for school.

The blonde-haired boy got out of his seat, went up the stairs, put on his clothes, rushed down the staircase and walked out the door without even saying a "goodbye" to his big sister.

Samantha lowered her head, and shook it slowly from side to side.

"Oh, mother," Samantha sighed as she got out of the wooden chair and looked up to the woman in a portrait of a woman and a man embracing each other, just beside the cupboard, "what would you have done?"

* * *

Well, there you go, people! This is my first- in fact, _the_ first- Billy Hatcher fic other than Digi-Dolphin's "Hero's Nightmare". It starts out calmly like this, but it's going to pick up soon. I'll explain things like why Billy is so insecure later, and I may iterate on Rolly's hypothetical feelings for Billy. And of course, the new adventure will also start soon.

Until next time, readers! Reviews are appreciated and, if at all possible, will be responded to! You're constructive criticism can help me be a better writer!

See you all next chapter.


	2. Corvo's Last Chance

Well, here we are- a redo of the second chapter of my Billy Hatcher fiction. This sees a few of the errors I made in the last chapter having been fixed. This will probably be very short, but at least it's better than nothing. Also, there is a bit of profanity in this chapter, so if you don't like that (which, to be honest, I completely understand), then please, by all means, skip the curse words. To be honest, I myself was a bit reluctant writing them.

And now, for the disclaimer that applies to both the first chapter and this new one: I don't own Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg, Billy, Rolly, Bantam, Chick, Dark Corvo, Dark Raven, or Morning Land. They are all trademarks of the geniuses at Sonic Team and Sega. I do, however, own the school the younger characters go to, and the characters Samantha Hatcher, Arnold Bays, and David Cracker.

Now, here we go!

* * *

The Crow's Colony, Unspecified Time.

Dark Corvo looked at the small black sphere in his hand and sighed as he rested an elbow on the table.

He had tried everything to release his master from within the sphere. He first tried cracking it, then using some spells, then some more spells, then trying to turn the sphere into a crow, but ever since that blasted Billy came around and defeated Corvo- with stupid eggs, of all things- Dark Corvo had lost most of his power.

How humiliating to be defeated by little yolks encased in calcium shells rolled around by a stupid little boy in a rooster costume! Corvo could only imagine how his master felt. Defeated by elliptical would-be baby chickens rolled around by a mammal was bad enough, but to be defeated by white spheres created from one's own weapon? And defeated when empowered by the energy of the Giant Egg? Who could know such could truly happen? A mere sample of such humiliation could be experienced via Corvo being defeated by a little chick!

Dark Corvo, finally submitting for the day, started to put the sphere on the table when it began to glow not black, but white in its aura.

"What in the name of-" Corvo left the sentence hanging in the air as he noticed, in the sphere, a small boy, about six, with black hair and brown eyes, looking at a sheet of paper.

"Corvo," thundered a familiar voice- the voice of Dark Raven, Corvo's lord and master.

"I-i-is that you, Raven?" asked Corvo.

"Yes," Raven sighed in an annoyed tone, "it's me."

Corvo couldn't believe it. His master- the one he had thought trapped- had rerisen.

"Milord!" exclaimed Corvo as he got down on one knee and lowered his head to the white glowing mass in front of him.

"As you were, Corvo," the sound of Dark Raven's voice sounded.

"Have you broken free of this prison?" asked the crow-wizard as he got up on his feet.

"No, I am still trapped inside this sphere."

"But-" Raven started, confused.

"I am using what little power I have left to communicate to you. But I do know a solution of how to free me," said Dark Raven.

"A solution? Please tell me, Milord!" Dark Corvo almost demanded from his Lord.

Dark Raven chuckled in his low, deep voice, amused at how eager his underling yearned to free him from his prison. It was almost funny, how loyal Corvo was.

"The answer lies," Raven's voice sounded again, "in this boy I am showing you now. I want you to watch him. You will see how he can free me.

"But, Milord, how can such a scrawny mammal be of any use to us?" inquired Corvo.

There was no answer.

"Milord?" Corvo repeated.

Again, there was no answer to his call.

Shrugging, Dark Corvo took a seat, crossed his legs, and set his eyes on the white halo and the boy within. It wasn't like him to assume humans to be of any use to the crows, but if his master said it was so, then it was so.

* * *

Unspecified Forest School, 12:30 pm

"Let's see here…" David Cracker murmured to himself, "332 times 485. That's a zero, carry the one, that's a six in that column, carry the one again…"

"Hey there, nerdy!" A familiar voice sounded, interrupting David's calculations, "What's going on?"

"Oh, man," whined the six-year-old David as he turned around to see his designated bully, Arnold Bays, approaching him, fists tightly clenched.

"Why do you have to bother me now?" David asked the towering thirteen-year-old now in front of him.

"I'm out of lunch, and I want seconds. You're too busy being a damn nerd to eat, so give me your lunch!"

"But I _am_ going to eat it! And watch your mouth," responded David.

At that moment, Arnold picked up David off the front steps of the schoolhouse- holding him by his shirt collar- and shoved him into a neighboring tree.

"You know what?" Arnold growled under his breath and behind his teeth, "I don't give a damn whether you're going to eat it or not, and I don't give a rats ass if you hate how I talk. Now give me your lunch, and I'll hit you only five times instead of six."

Nodding in agreement, the horrified little boy took out what would have been his lunch, and slowly extended his arm outward. Arnold snatched the bag greedily out of David's hand and let the young boy fall to the ground.

"All right, now let's see what we've got here," chuckled Arnold as he opened the lunch bag to look inside at its contents.

"What the hell? You brought damn celery sticks!" Arnold exclaimed as he pulled out the only contents of the bag- five long sticks of the aforementioned vegetable.

Arnold threw the would-be meal onto the ground, shoving it into the dirt with his shoe. He then turned his attention to the six-year-old boy gasping for breath on the ground. At the sight of Arnold staring down at him, David immediately started crawling away on his wrists and knees, terrified of the unsatisfied beast approaching his personage.

"Well, looks like someone's going to get beaten _seven_ times today!" Arnold Bays yelled angrily as he walked closer and closer to the victim-to-be.

Arnold caught up with the boy and, after quite a struggle, finally slapped him across the face, drawing tears from the little boy, but also submission.

"Why do you do this? I never did anything to you," David wept.

"Cause I can, you little crybaby!" Arnold snapped back.

Arnold made no resistance to laughing at David's tears.

"Aw, you going to cry? Huh?" Arnold mused mockingly.

"Wah, wah," Arnold mocked, "Wah, wah, wa-"

Ka-POW!!!

"Ooww… my… GOD!!" exclaimed Arnold as he held the back of his head in pain- and in so doing, unleashed David.

"Why don't you pick on someone your own size!" exclaimed a voice all-too-familiar to just about everyone in school… even Arnold.

Arnold looked to the ground to look at the stone that had just hit him in the head, then jerked his head around to see the one who threw it.

Sure enough, standing tall and proud, with blue eyes and blonde hair, was Billy Sunnyside Hatcher, already with another small stone in hand.

Arnold was, to put it in a way appropriate for some of the younger readers out there, pretty darn angry. And when Arnold was angry, he was almost invincible in a fistfight- or a stone toss.

Arnold picked up his own rock. It was a piece of granite about the size of a brick, and Billy could see it from where he was standing. Billy braced himself, ready to jump out of the way.

"Hey you!" A voice called out behind Arnold. Arnold turned around to see Bantam Scrambled, standing in front of David, who was trembling behind him. "You want to mess with Billy or David, then you mess with me, man!" Bantam threatened.

"So, you want to mess with me? Both of you?" Arnold asked, putting on a false show of toughness.

"Make that three of us," called a female voice to the right of Arnold's viewpoint. Arnold recognized this voice anywhere. Arnold gulped as Rolly Roll, the first student to ever physically hurt him in response to his bullying, came beside Bantam and took a fighting pose- to be precise, a ready-stance.

"Ow!" Arnold exclaimed again as he felt another rock, this time much larger than the last, hit him in the back of his head, causing him to fall over. Arnold got up onto his feet slowly, his ears filled with the grinding of the dirt below him. Arnold held his hand to the back of his head to see a tiny smear of blood on the pad of his middle finger.

Arnold looked back to see his attacker, only to see a new little boy, who upon inspection from a distance matched the rumored kid classmates called Chick Poacher, flipping a rock his hand, with a confident smirk on his face, standing alongside Billy.

"You want to mess with David, then you have to go through me!" said Bantam courageously.

"And me," Rolly agreed whole-heartedly.

"And me," announced Billy, now holding not a stone, but a stick, though he was still a distance away.

"And me," Chick chimed in.

"Oh, yeah? Come on, I'll take all four of you!" bluffed the thirteen-year-old.

"You want to take that chance?" Bantam asked, cracking his knuckles.

As much as he hated to admit it, Arnold was in a tight spot. He wasn't used to uprisings and multiple people at a time standing up to him. What's worse than previous people standing up to him in this case was that now, each of the four had assets that formed the perfect anti-bully squad.

Bantam alone was pretty much like a team of musclemen. From working with his father in the lumber business, Bantam had enough strength to haul small trees. Arnold had met Bantam before, but never took his chances with the brutish force of muscle. He had beaten up several bullies before, turning them all into scattered messes, which is why he was called "Scrambled".

Billy was good with anything that served the purpose of a lance and, judging from his recent throw of the rock, a bit of a marksman. Billy was known around the small forest village for his immense courage, which had encouraged him to take on bullies before.

Chick had also taken on bullies three times his own height. Unlike Billy, though, Chick did it strictly out of fearless pride and self-confidence… and usually won. His ability to fire an arrow was well known around the village, and apparently, his manual targeting wasn't bad either. His ability to kill a deer in one shot earned him the false nickname "Poacher".

Rolly was perhaps the one of the four that Arnold feared the most. Recently, Arnold had attempted to take some lunch from Rolly when he was hungry. When she refused, he decided to do to her what he was just now trying to do to David. Now he may never be able to make children.

Without uttering a word, Arnold walked away, muttering something indistinct under his breath.

"Yeah, that's what I thought," Bantam called out after the retreating bully, holding up a fist.

Rolly and Bantam turned around, and Billy and Chick ran up to accompany them.

As they analyzed David, they noticed that, even though Arnold hadn't "hit" David in the normal sense, he was still a little bruised. What was visible of David's chest was a deep red, and David's face had little dirt smudges all over it. The trails where his tears had been streaming down his face were quite visible as streaks through the soil spots on his cheeks.

David had apparently fainted at the prospect of being about to be beaten up by someone far taller than him, and hadn't woken up since.

"Poor guy," Rolly pitied, "He's out like a candle."

"Yeah, why do we stand up for such a wuss any-"

SMACK!

"Hey, what was that for?" exclaimed Chick as he rubbed the spot on his face where Rolly's hand had connected.

"Just keep your opinion to yourself, Chick," said Rolly in the form of an aggravated, out-of-her-teeth tone.

"Come on," said Billy as he picked up one of David's shoulders and Bantam picked up David by the other, "let's get David back to his house."

* * *

The Crow's Colony, Unspecified Time

Dark Corvo looked on in awe. Then, he reclined in his seat and grinned to himself. Now he understood what his master was trying to say. Now he understood why this boy was useful.

"Slave!" called Corvo to his young chick servant, a prisoner of war.

"Yes, my master?" asked the young chick as it entered the room of Dark Corvo and lowered its head in respect.

Corvo smiled. "Prepare the black suit for transfer to the human world. There may yet be a way to save the master."

"Yes, master" responded the chick, as he headed off to retrieve the black suit. Suddenly, the actual command got to the chick's head, and his face turned pale.

"B-b-b-but master, why resort to such an extremity to-"

"Did I ask your opinion, slave?" Corvo asked in a deceptively calm voice and without looking back up at his slave, not at all content with said slave's questioning of him.

"N-no, sir," the chick submissively uttered.

"Then go and carry out my command," said Corvo, still abnormally calm.

Knowing better than to oppose the will of a child of Nocturn, the chick turned around and, without a word, set out to carry out his master's wish.

Corvo watched his slave leave the room. When the chick had left to retrieve the suit and was fully out of view, Corvo returned his gaze to the small orb that was his master. Now Corvo had to make sure that absolutely nothing went wrong, or any chances of freeing his master would be done for. This was his last chance.

* * *

Well, How did you like it? I did this while I was on what I like to call "writer's surge." 

Anyway, constructive criticism would be most highly appreciated in your reviews. Flames will be welcomed, and mindless praise tolerated. Off-topic comments will either be taken into consideration or ignored.

Until next time, audience!


	3. David Awakens

Okay-Dokie, I'm back and in business.

Thank you, reviewers. You really make my day when you review and/or comment on my stories. That seems to be the universal goal of all fanfiction authors.

Now, I could go on with responses to my reviewers in this chapter, but if someone reviewed chapter two after that, then what? Their review wouldn't be publicly answered like all the rest, and I'd have to send them a private reply. Hence, all my authors will be replied to personally, not in the author's note on each chapter.

All right, so now I shall announce the disclaimer: I do not own Billy Hatcher, Rolly Roll, Bantam Scrambled, Chick Poacher, or Dark Corvo. I do, however, own David Cracker, David's mother, and four acres of land in my backyard. All right, that last one doesn't affect the story, but the first two do.

All right now, let's go!

* * *

The Cracker's house, 7:00 pm

David slowly opened his eyes. The black abyss into which he had been staring for a time was, from a horizontal line in the middle of his view outward, slowly being replaced by foggy images.

At first, all he saw was a nasty smudge of brownish coloring with spatters of manila here and there. Slowly, however, it came into focus to take the shape of a wooded ceiling, with seam lines running down along it and knothole swirls scattered about so there was one on about every third plank.

Now, as David's ears came into function, he heard a mix of sound sequences which, after a few seconds, he identified as voices. It was a blend of one rather deep voice, one cutely effeminate one, one rather confident-sounding, youthful voice, and one female voice obviously older than the other effeminate one.

David slowly lifted his head up, blinking his eyes to bring them into full focus. As his vision became more pristine, he managed to identify several figures at the dining room table.

'_Rolly? Bantam? Chick? What are they doing here? And why are they talking with mom?_

David slowly got out of the small couch he had been on, cracking his spine a bit once he had sat upwards.

Bantam looked back over his shoulder to see David waking up.

"And he lives!" Bantam exclaimed, earning the attention of Rolly, Chick, and David's mother.

"David!" David's mother exclaimed as she walked over to David and delivered a reciprocated hug, "I was afraid you wouldn't wake up until next morning!"

"I'm fine, mom," David sighed, returning his mothers embrace.

"Hey there, David!" greeted Chick as he walked up to said six-year-old boy barely into his consciousness.

"Hey Chick," David greeted back as he relented his embrace with his mother.

"Hello, David," Bantam and Rolly greeted simultaneously as they approached David cautiously, so as not to scare the timid youngster out of his wits.

"Hi, Rolly," David said, giving off a salute to her.

"Hey Bantam," David greeted as he shook Bantam's firmly-gripping hand. David pulled away his constricted palm quickly.

"So," David started as he shook his wrist to wring out the pain going through the constricted finger hub, "I'm almost afraid to ask, but why are you guys here?"

"For your information," scoffed Chick in a seemingly insulted tone, "we just happened to take time out of our day to save your crumby little li-"

THWACK!!!

"Ow! Holy Guacamole, that's twice you hit me today!" exclaimed Chick as he put his hand over the red spot where Rolly had backhanded him across the face.

"What Chick was _trying_ to say," Rolly began, glaring at Chick as she emphasized the "trying" word, "is that we just helped you out when you were in a bit of a tight spot."

"How so?" David asked. "The last thing I remember is that Arnold had dropped me to the ground. I think he was about to beat me until I couldn't walk anymore."

Rolly sighed. David was smart academically, but when it came to adding up two and two in figurative speaking, David was not at all very good at it. He was the kind of person who needed to have his situation spelled out for him if he couldn't figure it out himself.

"Chick, Bantam, Billy, and I stood up against Arnold and got him to back off," Rolly sighed in a mix of annoyance and tiredness, "When we took a look at you, we noticed you had fainted. So, we picked you up and brought you back home."

"Oh… well thank you all," David said quietly. "So where is Billy?"

Rolly sighed again. "Billy left for home. I don't know why, he just said he had to go."

"Well, thank Billy for me when you see him next, will you guys?"

Rolly looked down. How could they? Ever since Billy and his friends had returned from Morning Land, Billy had been so concealed, so unenergetic. That also meant he seldom came out of his own house. He didn't play anymore- his only reason to ever come out of his house was to go to school.

"I'll try to make sure I do that," Rolly said, plastering on a fake smile.

"All right now," David's mother started, "I think that someone needs to go to sleep right about now."

"Aw, Mom, I just woke up. Can't I stay up a bit?" argued and requested David.

"Don't argue with me, young man," replied his mother in a lightly yet significantly irritated tone of voice. "You have to go to bed early so you can get back to school early in the morning."

David looked down to the floor and frowned, a saddened face covering his features. "I don't want to go," David said, slowly looking back up to his mother. "I'm afraid."

David's mother sighed and sat down on the couch, rubbing her forehead, her eyes closed. She knew it was true, and not in vain, either. Her son was frightened to go to school, and why shouldn't he be? Ever since that new kid, Arnold, moved in from the city nearby, every child in school was facing a nightmare just to get an education. Well, quite frankly, David's mom had had just about enough of it. Tomorrow, she would change it all up for her son for the better.

"I'll tell you what, David. Tomorrow, while you're at school, I'll go talk with the principal, and we'll see what we can do about Arnold. Okay, Honey?" Mrs. Cracker offered.

David spent about thirty seconds considering the offer. "Okay," he said reluctantly, after this time of contemplation.

"Good. Now, go on upstairs, brush your teeth, take a shower, wash your face, and get to bed," Mrs. Cracker ordered, giving her son a light push toward the staircase.

Compliantly, but with a bit of reluctance, David headed upstairs to do what his mother had asked him to do.

And the whole time, Rolly, Bantam, and Chick had been watching and listening.

"Well," Rolly started nervously, catching David's mother's attention, "Seeing as how it's so late, we ought to be headed home ourselves."

"All right, then," agreed Mrs. Cracker heartily. She would never keep a guest at the expense of their sleep.

"Good night, David. Good night Mrs. Cracker," the trio bid the family.

"Good night, Rolly. Good night, Bantam. Good night, Chick," responded Mrs. Cracker.

"Good night, guys," David bid.

And with that, the trio headed out the front door of the house and got on to the road.

When the three were out of earshot of the Cracker family, Rolly spoke up as the trio started to walk down the path that would at one point branch into each ones home.

"Poor David. Getting picked on by that big brutal monster all the time when goes to get an education, which is basically when you're supposed to feel at home," Rolly said.

"I know, he's such a-" Chick started. But, since Chick would be dead if Rolly's looks could kill, he got Rolly's message from the scowl on her face, which, basically put, said "shut up". He caught himself in his speech and receded, nervously giggling and twiddling his thumbs.

"Still," Bantam started up to divert Rolly's attention from Chick, "He's a nice little kid, isn't he?"

"And very smart," Chick added onto Bantam's point.

"Well, let's just hope that Mrs. Cracker's contact with the principal tomorrow can get something done about Arnold Bays," Rolly said to end the discussion of David Cracker.

* * *

The Crow's Realm, Unspecified Time

Dark Corvo walked through the crow village to his primary destination. He ignored the young crows playing, the female adult crows gossiping and shopping, and the very few adult male crows out and about accompanying their companions for life. All he could ponder, all he could think about, was the fact that his master- his almighty, powerful master- had invested his faith in a young human boy.

True, Corvo saw how the boy would be able to assist the almighty overlord, but still, a human being? What good is a mammal that, of all things, relies on a high concentration of light more than any of the other senses? What good is one who cannot live without high concentrations of light to the patriarch of those who live with only the faintest of light? 'And what good,' Corvo asked himself in his mind, 'would it be to me?'

Corvo shrugged it off as he approached the footsteps of the altar of Nocturn, savoring the presence of the Crow spirit as it encircled the temple itself. If there was one whom Corvo was more loyal to than Raven, it was Nocturn, creator of the nocturnal crows of the Morning Land's outer realm, as well as their diurnal kin in the Earth realm.

As Corvo entered the narthex and crossed the door into the main room, he smiled as he noticed everything in place. Nocturn's priests stood on either side of the portal. Corvo's slave from earlier stood in front of the portal and, upon noticing dark Corvo walking in, bowed down in respect. The black suit was folded neatly upon the portal, and- most importantly- Corvo's omniscience orb was set in front of a pew. Its purpose was to help him communicate with the boy in question.

Dark Corvo walked toward the pew with his omniscience orb before it and sat down.

"Oh, spirit of Nocturn," Corvo pleaded, "show me the instance within the twenty-four hour cycle the Earth goes through for this boy Milord Raven speaks of."

Apparently, Nocturn seemed unwilling to comply, as within the glass sphere appeared a scene of blackness. As Dark Corvo looked closer, however, he took note of a very dark version of the color green running through the horizontal center of the crystaline ball. Running vertically through this was a series of thin black and thick dark brown streaks, the brown streaks and black streaks intermingling with each other as they neared the dark green.

"Ah, so he lives in a forest," Corvo pointed out. "And of all things, I can tell this is the one with the other portal in it. Plus, it is night. Good, This makes things much easier."

Corvo turned his attention to the cylindrical shrine on which the black suit rested. He then looked at his slave, and nodded gently.

Without uttering so much as a whimper, the slave complied with the demand already instilled by the silent gesture of his master. He turned to a small bucket behind him. Then, he held out his hand, picked a knife and cut his palm. Hot red blood dripped down into the bucket, while some trickled down his wrist and stained his yellow feathers.

The shrine began to glow a sort of green color around the rim, illuminating the room and the suit laying on it. Suddenly, the suit started to rotate horizontally. It moved faster and faster, until it eventually disappeared.

"Now," stated Corvo as he looked back to his orb and it brought up the image of the young, brown-haired boy whom Raven had showed him, "Time to show this youth the power of our alliance."

* * *

The Cracker's House, 7:13 pm

The sound of scratching teeth sounded throughout the restroom was like an echo in a cave as David Cracker brushed his teeth. He had already showered, and already washed his face. Now, this was his last chore before he went to bed.

'_My goodness. Bantam, Chick, and Rolly especially seem to care about me almost like family,_ thought David as he got to brushing his back teeth.

'_But why, then, did Billy not come? I wonder… does he hate me, too?_

David put some water in his mouth and gargled it, swishing it around a little bit, and then spit it out.

"But that can't be- Rolly said that Billy helped, too," David reasoned as he headed toward his bed and pulled the covers over himself

"Oh, well, I'm too lazy to think about it," David surrendered jokedly.

David knew now that tomorrow would be a new day. Tomorrow, his mother would go to the principal and reveal to him the plight of Arnold Bays. It probably wouldn't be the first time anyone had gone up and complained to the principal about that boy, but now, this time, the principal wouldn't be able to simply ignore it any longer. He would _have_ to get Arnold deported from the school, and hopefully, the forest as a whole… or at least, he could coax Arnold's mother and Arnold's father to start using physical disciplinary action to make sure Arnold knew his place. That was certainly a nice prospect.

Little did David know, a newer, even more rewarding wind was about to blow…

* * *

Well, there you go. That's the newest chapter to my story. Me-hopey-you-likey.

This chapter was actually taken down a long time ago, and only recently reposted. The last time it was up, it was very unnecessary to the plot, as pointed out by Writer's Blah. So, I took it down, made it actually significant to the storyline, and reposted it.

Until next time, fellow readers! Expect the fourth chapter in due time!


	4. Meeting Dark Corvo

Well, people, thank you all so very much for waiting for me. At last, the fourth chapter is up and about! Whee!

I warn you that there is a little bit of profanity in this chapter.

I do not own Dark Corvo, nor do I the Crow Crescent symbol. I do, however, own David Cracker and this story.

Now, here we go!

* * *

David Cracker's Dream World, Timeless

Corvo landed in a large, green plain. As he looked around himself, he already knew that he wasn't going to like it here. There was grass- a diurnal plant- as far as the eye could see. As he began to look up, he was blinded by a bright, yellow sun shining into his eyes. He let out a little yelp in pain in response to the solar sphere.

"So," Dark Corvo started, "this is the boy's dream world? How pathetic, I was hoping to see darkness, considering the path his life is taking. Ah, well."

Corvo took to the air and flew around to find who he was looking for.

* * *

David sighed with happiness as he walked through the field. There was green grass everywhere, and clusters of flowers were scattered about all over. David's feet made a slight rustling sound as they made contact with the grass.

"Ah," David said in a relaxed tone, "Nothing like a stroll through nature to calm the senses. The only thing that could possibly ruin this would, of all things, have to be-"

As if on cue, blood red seemed to spread throughout and eventually replace the blue sky in a manner similar to that of food coloring spreading through water. The clouds seemed to turn from white to grey from the inside out, and the grass whithered as if it were on fire, until each individual blade was brown and prickly with a grey edge.

"Hey, there, you little loser," David heard a familiar voice say as a large shadow engulfed him from behind. He gulped and turned around- and sure enough, there was Arnold Bays in all his body.

* * *

Dark Corvo noticed the sky as it turned red, and the clouds darkened. Now, one might think this apocalyptic-looking setting would please Corvo. Well, that would be a misconception- as far as Corvo was concerned, if the sun was shining at all, things were abysmal.

Corvo looked around for his prey. As he slowly panned his head almost as if it were on a horizontal rail, something caught his eye to his right. He saw what looked like two people, one a little less than twice the height of the other one. This, Corvo reasoned, must be what he was looking for.

And with that, he dove in, staff in hand. Now it was time to convince the boy of just what his heart wanted- something Corvo was very good at.

* * *

"So what's up, you little son of a bitch?" Arnold Bays asked David tauntingly and almost rhetorically as he walked up to David, punching his fists into his palms.

"Look, can't you just please leave me alone?" David pleaded as he walked backwards. While it was a dream- and David knew that quite well- he still hated seeing Arnold- at all. As he continued to make futile attempts to reason with Arnold, he noticed a small flash of purple coming from behind Arnold. David tried to look over Arnold's shoulder. It was a mistake- he immediately fell backward as he attempted to do so.

Arnold lifted David up off of the ground by his shirt collar, causing David to start to whimper.

"I'm gonna take out your guts," Arnold bragged to his prey, "and shove 'em up your- UGH!!"

At that moment, a purple light began to come out of Arnold's mouth. Then it came out of his eyes. Then, he literally dissolved in mid-air, causing the younger boy to be dropped. David landed with a 'crunch' on the dry, brittle, brown grass. As David looked up to identify what had happened, he almost couldn't believe what he saw:

Levitating in front of him, about four and a half feet high, was what looked like some sort of bipedal griffin. He had two free hands, one of which bore a scepter of some kind, which was glowing the same purple as the kind that had come out of Arnold. He also had two wings, each one at least as long as his body was tall. He seemed to have almost black feathers, eyes completely white and pupil-less, and a dark-grey beak with a yellow crystal imbedded in the top of it. Perhaps the most interesting thing, though, was the fact that he seemed to be wearing a sort of cloak-slash-robe. It was black, with a light yellow symbol on it- the same color of the beak-imbedded jewel- that looked like a crescent, with a hole inside of the crescent.

Suddenly, the figure let itself land gently and bowed to David.

"Greetings," the figure said as it began to rise from its bow, "I do apologize that I did not end that sooner."

"Well," David started to stammer, not quite sure what to make of this, "thank you for coming to help me at all."

"My name," the figure grinned, "is Corvo. Dark Corvo, if you prefer titles."

Corvo reached out his hand to the sitting boy.

"Come," he said, "I'd like to chat with you a little bit".

* * *

"So, young David, I see you have been given much trouble by this… fiendish other human being," Corvo confirmed as he flew deceptively slow and gently at David's side as he walked through the still apocalyptic-looking plain that was at one point the aforementioned lush meadow.

"Yeah," David said, "Arnold really is a pain to me." David looked down to the ground, stopping in his tracks. "I just wish that he would leave me alone."

Corvo smiled inside. Now was his chance to present the second-most powerful psychological force in the world under religion: Temptation.

"You know," Corvo started up, forcing himself not to snicker, "you could _make_ him not bother you anymore. you could _make_ it so he never does this to your dreams again."

"I've already tried that," responded David. "He doesn't take kindly to me trying to appeal to him."

"But," Corvo said, "There's always another way to get him to stop bothering you."

"Really?" David asked doubtfully. "How so?"

"It is the most permanent method of all," hinted Corvo.

"If you are going to suggest going to the principal to get him suspended-"

"Look inside your heart, David. You know what you want."

At this point, Corvo couldn't help but to grin. "…and you know that you know."

David was puzzled by what Corvo said. Look inside your heart? What's that supposed to mean?

David figured that it must mean to look inside his thoughts. But if that was the case, then the only "inner thought" David had to get rid of Arnold was-

"Oh, my goodness," David said. "Corvo," he said softly, looking up to the Crow wizard, "you want me to kill him?"

"Well," Corvo chuckled, picking some imaginary dust off from his fingertips, "not personally. I'm merely making a suggestion to a newfound friend. And more specifically, no: _you_ want to kill him. I just suggested looking inside yourself."

"B-but it's wrong to kill anyone, for any reason!" David stammered, partially still in shock by the suggestion.

"Even in self-defense?" Corvo responded calmly, still looking at his fingers.

David was speechless. How did the boy respond to that?

"Now, allow me to explain my purpose here. My Master, Dark Raven, sends for you. He needs you to return him to his former glory," Corvo announced, now turning his head to look David straight in the eye. "If you wish for power and vengeance upon this other human who bothers you, heed my words: when I leave, this dream will end. You will wake up to see a crow out of your window. Go outside and follow it. It will lead you to the Black Crow suit. Put it on. I will appear there before you and give instructions and advice on how and when to use its power."

And with that, Corvo took to the air and ascended into the sky, shooting straight up like a rocket.

* * *

The Crackers' House, 1:30 a.m.

David woke up slowly. He threw the covers off of himself, rose out of his bed, and stretched out his body, groaning a bit as he did so.

David looked warily about. To his left, just a nightstand with an alarm clock and a lamp on it. To his right, his barely-outfitted toy chest. In the middle, the end of his bed. In short, there was no sign of anything wrong.

"Oh, gosh," David almost whispered to himself, "that was quite a dream."

But, if it was a dream, he reasoned with himself, then how is it that he remembered it so clearly? It was, after all, only a dream… right?

"Ah, well," David said as he got up off of the bed, "maybe a glass of water will do me good." With that, he headed downstairs to get some water out of the refridgerator faucet, thinking a little bit about the dream as he descended.

David had not even taken his second sip of water when he heard a cawing outside. David sharply turned his head around, looking around the kitchen for the one who made the sound. After observing his surroundings for about thirty seconds, David shrugged it off, dismissing it as something made long off in the distance or by the wind. Once he took his second sip, however, he heard the cawing again, this time louder and clearer than before. Remembering what Corvo had said to him in his dream, David slowly and reluctantly turned around again, this time to face the window. What he saw, he couldn't believe: Outside, on a tree branch adjacent to the kitchen window, he saw a small, black bird- a crow.

So maybe the dream _was_ real after all...

* * *

Well, there you have it. This was originally going to be much longer, but I decided to take most of it and post it as this chapter.

In any case, I hope you enjoyed this. Please review!


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